Friday, 19 September 2014

Smoky coconut bacon and chocolate topped doughnuts

A few weeks back Sylvia was at home sick for the good part of a week. She was too sick to go to school but well enough to need constant entertainment. It seemed a good time to make doughnuts. I have had my eye on the quirky recipe for Chocolate and Coconut Bacon Doughnuts at Oh My Veggies. Smoky chocolate is one of my new favouritecombinations. And this has to be one of my favourite recipes I am sharing during Vegan MoFo.

The doughnut recipe at Oh My Veggies was not quite right for me. Too flaxy, no yeast and it didn't give me an opportunity to use my cute doughnut cutter. So I searched for baked yeasted doughnuts and found Cate's simple recipe for vegan doughnuts. I even knew it was good because I had sampled some at the Vegan Roast Masterclass. I tweaked it slightly by omitting the baking powder (I wasn't sure I needed it) and using coconut milk. They were lovely and soft. I probably could have let them cook a bit longer so they had a bit more colour. (Curse you, slow oven!)

I really love my doughnut cutter but it was a wee bit small in the middle for these doughnuts. I need to roll them a bit thinner. When they came out of the oven the holes were virtually closed over. Determined to have holes, I poked at the holes as you can see in above photo. Speaking of holes, there were doughnut holes. I rolled them in butter and sugar for Sylvia. We probably ate too many.

The doughnuts were lovely. Best on day of baking when the coconut bacon was crispiest - but we kept some for the next day. They were a great distraction. Kids' sick days can go so slowly. My mum had bought this below mosaic activity home from a trip to Ireland. Sylvia had fun putting all the little stickers on the pictures and all over our house. She has put up the pictures when she creates her own little houses.

We also read a lot while she was sick and whizzed through The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe. Which is just the way to read any decent book. Less ideal was falling asleep while reading it but it helped Sylvia get to sleep when she was unsettled. Then we had to work out where we were. As an aside, I find it quite hard finding good chapter books suitable for a 5 year old. Any recommendations would be welcome.

A final note, I am flying to Adelaide this evening - without my laptop or family! I can't wait to get on the plane. A couple of posts are scheduled for the weekend but I will have to catch up with MoFo posts next week.

Heat milk to lukewarm. Stir in the margarine and pour into a large mixing bowl. Mix in sugar and yeast (leave for 5 minutes if you want to check your yeast is blooming but this is not necessary) and then mix in flour. The last bit might need to be done by hand to mix in all the flour. It will be a lovely soft dough.

Tip dough onto a lightly floured board and knead for 10 minutes. I found I didn't need any flour after the first few minutes.

Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl (just use the one you mixed the dough in) - turn it around so the whole ball of dough is covered in oil. Cover with a teatowel and prove for one and a half hours or until the dough has doubled in size.

Punch down and knead briefly until the dough is smooth. Press the dough out to about 1cm thick. Cut out either doughnut rings or round circles and place about 5cm apart on a lined tray.

Cover doughnuts with a teatowel and prove for about 30 minutes or until doubled in size. Meanwhile preheat oven to 200 C.

While the doughnuts rise, make the coconut bacon by mixing all ingredients in a bowl, heating some oil in a frypan and cook until golden brown (ie lighter than mine!)

Bake for 10 minutes and cool on a wire rack.

When doughnuts are cool, make the chocolate glaze. Mix all ingredients and melt in the microwave. (I did 30 seconds and then mixed until smooth and glossy.) Spread glaze over doughnuts and sprinkle with crushed coconut bacon.

On the Stereo:Act of Free Choice: David Bridie

This post is part of Vegan Month of Food September 2014. This year for Vegan MoFo my theme is The Letter S. Today is S for Smoky Fridays. Go to my Vegan MoFo list for more of my 2014 Vegan MoFo posts.

Ooh I want to make doughnuts, have had a gf vegan version bookmarked for ages, but unlike you I do not have a doughnut cutter or a doughnut pan, hence the delay. But whenever I do get to make them I am so making this smoky coconut bacon chocolate topping, as it does sound really amazing. Enjoy your master lass, look forward to reading about it in the v near futre

These look fantastic Johanna, and I love the concept of a doughnut cutter. These are beyond any doughnuts I've seen in a store!

I am excited for you heading to Adelaide solo, especially after that long week of sick Sylvia entertainment, and hope you enjoy the trip. As for books for 5 years olds, I discovered the Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House books at that age and they became my favourite childhood books of all time. In the first, Laura is about 5, so I think it's a nice time to start them if they hold appeal for Sylvia.

These look delightful! The dough looks lovely and soft and plump and I even like the fact that the holes came out tiny - it makes the doughnuts look cuter and plumper! I have a doughnut cutter like that that I found at Daiso - I haven't used it yet though. I have only made doughnuts once, and it wasn't a yeasted recipe - I really think yeasted would be best.

As for books...I'm trying to think back to my childhood now! I've said before, but my dad used to read me gumnut babies every night which I loved. I also loved all the Enid Blyton and Beatrix Potter books - anything a little bit magical with funny little characters was right up my alley. Ooh - and this isn't such a chapter book, but some of my favourite books were by Child's Play - One Odd Owl, Puzzle Island, the Secret Hedgehog, the Incredible Reversing Peppermints and the Chicken that could Swim. Again - they might be a bit old, I have trouble remembering what age I was when I read these!

Ooh, I also had this favourite collection of fairy stories - they all had these cute little cartoon illustrations that kind of reminded me of raggy dolls or something. I'll have to dig it out next time I go to my parents house - I definitely still have that one!

Smoky chocolate? Hmmmm. I am on a bit of a "smoky flavoured things" kick lately, but haven't yet tried it with chocolate. Very intriguing, I must say!Love your doughnuts - they are adorable (I also LOVE how you spell things, it reminds me of home...).Side note - Sylvia is definitely still too young for these, but in the next few years, you will want to read "A Series of Unfortunate Events" by Lemony Snickets. I loved The Chronicles of Narnia - such good books.

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Recipes and reflections in which our vegetarian heroine dreams of being tall and graceful as a giraffe; being a goddess in the kitchen; and being gladdened by green gadgets, green food and green politics because green is the colour of hope. See About Me for more info.